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Mean Green

Member Since: 15 Sep 2011
Location: South Ayrshire
Posts: 280

Roof tents from China

Does anyone have any experience of the roof tents from Alibaba or Ali express.

Prices seem very good - but does anyone have any experience of the quality. There is the argument that you get what you pay for, but since many of the 'quality brands' are made in china and these generic ones any good?[/code]

9th May 2023 4:36pm

Matt110

Member Since: 29 Jun 2014
Location: UK
Posts: 685

I did request a quote, not on a tent, but on an awning. The pricing was good, quality looked OK, got down to a really quite low number then they added six HUNDRED dollars to ship it, which, funnily enough, made it entirely pointless and one could simply buy one from a local supplier for the same price.

I've tried a couple of times now. Every time I try the shipping and logistics costs make the exercise pointless.

Which seems ridiculous.... I can ship a small thing from CHina via ebay for pence. Why does an awning cost hundreds?

10th May 2023 1:37pm

jpboost

Member Since: 13 Apr 2021
Location: Gatwick
Posts: 377

2014 Defender 110 Puma 2.2 SW Keswick Green

I understand that the Chinese Government subsidise (or possibly completely fund) the shipping on lots of their exports. Which is why you can buy low value items directly from China via ebay (or other places) with little postage costs.

I can only assume that this subsidy doesn't apply to larger items.

In reality you need to start buying larger quantities of stuff before the shipping makes financial sense.

This policy is also the main component of some of the scams running out there on Facebook and other places. They offer something too good to be true, you buy it, but they ship you something else smaller with virtually zero value. They apologize and offer a refund if you return the item.
The return postage to China is then equivalent (or more) than the original cost, so you just give up. They make £50 or so, and you throw away the worthless plastic tat they sent you.

I took a gamble, using Paypal, to see what happened. My set of cast iron saucepans, and beach trolley didn't arrive, but a small toy car and a travel pillow did. £60 down, but I used PayPal as I knew they used to cover return postage for up to 3 items a year. So I returned the items (nearly £45 postage cost!) and paypal refunded my postage, and then refunded my original payment as i could prove I'd returned the incorrect items.

But be aware, I understand that paypal have now reduced or removed this cover, probably due to the prolific nature of the scam.

10th May 2023 2:58pm

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